Reckoning

Chapter Four: What Lies Beneath

It barely takes me and Grace a minute to get to the infirmary where the girl is. I open the door to her room and see Lauren, DJ, and Emma crowding around her. "Hey, what's going...", I start but I stop when they all turn to look at me.
"We're just asking her a few questions", Emma tells me.

"Give her some space at least", I argue. They take a step back, giving the girl some air to breathe. Grace then comes into the room as well. The girl sits up on the bed and looks frightened, and her green eyes dart around the room. She's wearing a thin sweater and jeans.

"Where am I? Who are you people?", the girl asks frantically.
I slowly approach her and tell her, "Calm down. It's okay, you're safe here."
"I'm...not safe anywhere", she tells us, "None of us are."
"What do you mean by that?", Lauren asks her, "Why did you say 'he's coming'?"

"I...I...", the girl trails off.

"Maybe David should just talk to her", DJ suggests, "After all he saved her from the walkers."
Lauren gives an angry look at DJ, then she throws her hands up and says, "Fine. David, would you please talk to this young lady?"
"Don't give him attitude", Grace snaps at Lauren, then after the others exit the room she tells me, "I'll be right outside."

The door closes, leaving the girl alone in here with me. I fix my hoodie, take a chair and sit down in front of her while she sits up on the bed.

"What's your name?", I ask her.
"Lisbeth", she tells me, "What's yours?"
"I'm David", I say.

"Are you here to interrogate me, David?"
"No", I calmly tell her, "I just want to know why you're here. Did something happen out there?"

"Something like that", Lisbeth says as she runs a hand through her long dark brown hair.
"Can you tell me what happened?", I ask her.
She breathes deeply, then she explains, "It was just this morning. I woke up, got dressed for the day...the usual. I walked past my father's office, and I heard him arguing with someone. It was Victor. A few months ago he broke a rule and was disciplined, then he seemed clean."

Lisbeth continues, "The next thing I knew the door opened and Victor walked out with a knife. He came toward me and...held the knife against my neck. He was going to kill me. But my father wouldn't let that happen. He took his machete and saved me from Victor. I was safe, but...my father was just so...enraged. He...mutilated Victor's body."

She starts to sob a little, but then she says, "I ran away after that. I was scared of my father. He never did anything like that before."
"Are you sure?", I ask out of the blue.
"What?", she starts to get angry, "Do you think my father's crazy?! He just wants to protect me! I'm all he has left! But he just...has a temper." She wipes a tear and then tells me, "He'll come looking for me. He'll kill anyone who gets in his way."

"Where did you come from anyway?", I ask Lisbeth.

"I'm from-"
She gets cut off by a loud gunshot coming from outside. I jump to my feet as well as Lisbeth. Grace comes bursting through the door and tells us, "There's people coming towards the wall! Come look!"

Lisbeth and I follow Grace out of the infirmary and towards the main gate. Atop the walkway, Caesar, DJ, Anna, and Lauren are staring out towards the road. Almost everyone in Haven arrives in the main area of the community to see what's going on. Lisbeth freezes when she sees something through the gate. I climb up the ladder and onto the walkway. I join the others, who are staring at a fleet of vehicles. Motorcycles, jeeps, trucks, and a big rig in the front.

"Who do you think this guy is?", DJ asks us.

"I guess we're about to find out", Anna says as the vehicles come to a stop in front of the wall.

Lisbeth's father will be revealed in the next chapter.
And no, I didn't get to publish a chapter of Little Things yesterday